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When Your Mom Is Your Best Critic

I’m not the only one in my family cranking out books. As many of you know, my mom (http://judyduarte.com/) is also an author for Harlequin Special Edition and was the one who inspired me to start writing. And by inspired, I mean relentlessly and forcefully steered me in that direction by signing me up for workshops and dragging me to conferences. Because even when you’re an adult, your mother still thinks she knows what’s best for you.

Having a blast at the Harlequin Author Party. The Plaza in New York City

It turns out my mom was right–as she usually is. Writing ended up being a great career fit for me and one of the added job perks is that I get to embark on this path alongside my biggest fan, as well as my biggest critic. Thankfully, my mother and I have the type of relationship where we can have fun together on work trips, yet be brutally candid with each other when it comes to critiquing the others’ writing.

For example, our lines edit comments have contained the following sentences:

“Knock it off with the Oxford comma. If you keep putting them in, I’m going to stop reading!” -Mom

“Why in the world is your heroine going out on a date dressed like an eighty-year-old golfer?” -Me

It truly is constructive criticism at its finest. Yet, with the negative comes the positive. Nobody can motivate me the way my mom motivates me because her work-related pep talks come with an added benefit of a wealth of experience in our field. She just published her 50th novel for Harlequin, so I’m (usually) pretty confident that she knows what she’s talking about. Check out her newest release and her big Five-Oh, The Bronc Rider’s Baby…